Uzumaki
by ProdigyPsycho
Summary: "Promises are important. Family is important. Promises to family are the most important of them all." OC-centric. Mildly AU. Contains blood and gore. Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
1. Prologue

All new readers, welcome. All readers who came here after reading Seal Master, welcome back! Yes, I know I took longer than expected and I'm sorry. Circumstances were unavoidable. As most of you know, this is a redo of Seal Master. Hopefully, this version will be better. This story is mostly OC-centric so be warned.

* * *

 _Rei Hagane (The Red Flash)_

 _Village of Origin: Otogakure_

 _Wanted By: Konoha, for theft of Yamanaka clan scrolls_

 _Overveiw:  
Rei Hagane can be a challenging enemy to most jounin who cannot keep up with his speed. Although incapable of hitting hard, Rei uses his array of jutsu to confuse his opponent and finish them off by chipping away slowly at their armor. It is nearly impossible to track his movements when he uses his jutsu Red Lightning. The only way to stop him is to trap him using Wind jutsu to destabilize his Red Lightning, and hit him hard. Although talented at genjutsu, he does not use it extensively, preferring to use it as a trump card. Incapacitating his hands is useless against stopping his ninjutsu as he already has lost one hand and performs his jutsu without seals. _

_Stats:  
Ninjutsu: 3 (5 when using Sealing Techniques)  
Genjutsu: 5  
Taijutsu: 3  
Intelligence: 5  
Strength: 3  
Speed: 3 (5 when using Red Lightning )  
Stamina: 3  
Handseals: 5  
Total: 30 (max 34)_

 _Rank: A_

 _-_ The Konoha Bingo Book (16 years post Kyuubi attack)

 _ **-**_ Uzumaki-

Kushina Uzumaki ran away from her parents, who waved at her. Her response was a raspberry, and childish laughter. Both parents shook their heads fondly, used to their rambunctious child's antics.

Ducking and weaving through the crowds, Kushina made her way through the busy streets of Ushiogakure, until she reached the empty grounds where she normally met up with her playmate. Scanning the grounds, she found that he hadn't reached there yet, and so she settled on lying down on the grass and staring at the clouds.

 _That one looks like a rabbit._ She mused to herself. _And that one looks like a cat. And that one looks like Okaa-san's scarf!_ And so, she amused herself by drawing pictures in the clouds, painting them with her vivid imagination. She spent quite some time telling herself stories as to why the rabbit stole her mother's scarf from the cat, until her view was impeded by childish face, with a thick mop of messy red hair, characteristic to Uzumaki members.

"What'cha doin' Kushina-chan?" the 4-year old asked, his brown eyes shining in glee.

Kushina gave a squeal of delight as she sat up to greet her younger cousin loudly.

"Rei!"

-Uzumaki-

Kushina watched with wonder, as she beheld her cousin spar with his mother. Kairi Uzumaki, was in no way weak. In fact, many people went on to say that she was actually on par with Tousen Uzumaki, the leader of Ushiogakure. Of course, she was holding back against her son, if she didn't, the child would have been a smear on the ground by now. But Rei was handling himself extremely well.

A stream of ink rushed at the eight year old, who, to his credit, did not panic. Going through his handseals, he pushed his hands out, causing three tiny rocks to be conjured out of thin air. Said rocks pelted the stream of ink, forcing it to lose its shape, and splattering to the ground. The child blinked in astonishment, obviously astounded by the fact that his plan actually worked, before breaking into a radiant grin. His mother gave him a soft smile of acknowledgement. Rei turned to beam at Kushina.

And she couldn't help beaming back.

-Uzumaki-

"Rei, promise me that you'll always be my friend."

"Promise."

-Uzumaki-

She was eleven now, he was ten, and now the war forced them to go their separate ways. Kumo was at their doorstep, threatening destruction if Ushiogakure didn't return their blood. It was now too dangerous for Kushina to remain in the village, and so, she and her mother were being sent to Konoha to be kept safe.

She hugged Rei tighter, not willing to let her closest friend, her _family_ go. Rei hugged her back, struggling to keep the tears in.

"Kushina..."

"Promise me. Promise me you will stay alive. No matter what happens, you will stay alive and come back to me."

Rei stayed quiet for a moment, struggling with himself, until he finally pulled back from Kushina and looked her in the eyes.

"I promise."

-Uzumaki-

"Rei-kun."

Rei, went down on one knee and lowered his head. There was no need for him to do so. Tousen had said specifically that he did not want the respect. All he wanted was to protect his village. But Rei's respect for the man ran too deep for him not to bow in his presence.

"Uzumaki-sama."

The fight was difficult, lasting nearly a month. Countless bodies of Kumo ninja littered the battlefield. Even more Ushiogakure corpses lay there.

During the battle, Rei had gained quite a name for himself. He and his father formed a formidable battle team. Both went out into battle, their heads held high. Their signature justu, the Raigan, caused the sharp blade-like rocks to cut through every enemy they faced. They stood together, back to back, as the storm of rock knives flew around them piercing their enemies' bodies. Those who did manage to get through were finished off by the father's sealing techniques and the son's illusions.

Tousen gave an exasperated smile.

"Rei, we are family. You can refer to me by my first name."

Rei said nothing. Sighing, Tousen went on, his features hardening, a sure sign that bad news was to come. "Rei, our forces are being pushed back. We are being defeated."

Rei did not respond.

"When Kumo finally beats us, they will take everything of use, and destroy everything else."

No response.

"That is why the elders and I have decided to seal away all our relics in the bowels of Ushiogakure. Heavy seals will be placed in front of them. No one will manage to get past them. In the eventuality that someone does get to them, we need a guardian to protect them."

Rei was unmoving.

"Will you take the responsibility of being the protector of our legacy?"

Finally, Rei spoke.

"I will."

-Uzumaki-

The war ended. Ushiogakure was burnt to the ground.

Kushina never did see Rei again.

-Uzumaki-

Orochimaru ran through the tunnels, Kakashi hot on his heels. Orochimaru knew all about the variety of traps the tunnels had. The Uzumaki were famed for their skills in the sealing arts. One would be hard-pressed to survive in an area filled with Uzumaki seals, designed to kill you. Not even the Kumo army that tried raiding the catacombs could pass through.

The Uzumaki skills were a force to be reckoned with. But nothing could stop Orochimaru. All he wished was that the traps would take care of the annoyance behind him.

As he ran through the tunnels, he stepped on a seal. The kanji below his feet glowed for a moment before vanishing again. Orochimaru kept his gaze forward, wary of any traps that would strike him.

His senses tingled, he felt a pulse of chakra activate ahead. He skidded to a halt, just as a few blade-like rocks pierced the ground where he would have been, had he not stopped. Orochimaru idly noted that the rocks had been sharpened with electric chakra. _Dual nature jutsu seals?_ But he did not ponder further as he ducked below Kakashi's lunge.

The white haired man rolled to feet as he touched the ground, and immediately jumped out of the way to avoid another barrage of rock-blades. As they two Konoha ninja glared at each other, they kept their sense peeled for any sign of the third attacker.

A muffled thump was heard to Orochimaru's right.

Immediately both ninja threw their kunai in that direction. Another thump indicated that the hidden assailant had dodged, but they didn't react to that. Instead they threw themselves at each other, seeing that their opponent was open after the throw. Orochimaru parried each blow, and in turn got each of his own blows parried before they were forced to jump apart to dodge another volley of the rock-blades.

Orochimaru landed on his feet, and narrowly blocked the figure that attacked him. He only saw a flash of red before he heard the distinct sound of chirping. He twisted his body away to dodge the Chidori, and was promptly attacked by another set of rock-blades. Jumping out of the way, Orochimaru finally caught a glance of his assailant.

He was short, maybe eleven or twelve, his features twisted into a determined scowl, that Orochimaru thought was endearing as the boys eyes flickered between Kakashi and himself. The boy was in a defensive stance, one eye out for the white-haired man crouching a few feet away, one on the snake sage.

They had found themselves in the middle of a three-way-standoff.

And Orochimaru was enjoying every moment of it.

-Uzumaki-

Orochimaru gave a triumphant smirk as he watched the struggling form of the child. The boy was shaking, his legs quivering from the effort it took to stand. Kakashi was busy struggling against the snakes that was wrapped around him. Sadly, they were non-poisonous and normally finished off their victims by strangling them.

The boy scowled determinedly as the black marks receded down his face and arms. Orochimaru raised an eyebrow at this. He already figured out that the marks were a by-product of a technique that allowed the child to use pure nature chakra. Orochimaru knew of a clan which specialized in using snake sage chakra, but what he was witnessing was one of a kind.

The boy was using pure nature chakra. Not the kind of chakra one gained the use of when one was with a summon. This was the pure nature chakra which wasn't modified with the help of a summon. Each summon modified the nature chakra you received to help you perform specific tasks. Snakes used it to allow more flexibility and body modification. Frogs used it to help you leap amazing distances. But the chakra the child was using gave him a pure power boost. If he could master its usage, he would never need a summon to augment his abilities. Even without mastery, this gave him an enourmous power boost, second only to jinchuuriki using their bijuu. This was truly an amazing find.

The child never let his eyes leave Orochimaru, always watchful of the man. Orochimaru stayed put, calmly smiling at the boy. Finally, when the boy had recovered enough, he burst forward with a punch, which was avoided by Orochimaru with a simple sideways tilt of his body. A flurry of attacks was thrown, but Orochimaru sidestepped and dodged each of them, until he grew tired of the game. When the boy aimed a kick straight for Orochimaru's head, the man blocked it with his forearm. From behind his collar, a snake shot out, wrapping around the leg and dangled the boy before Orochimaru, who grinned perversely at his capture.

The boy wasted no time, his hands going into a single handseal and blew straight at the snake sage's face. Dust, with sparks of electricity charging the air around it, billowed out and flew straight into Orochimaru's face. With a cry, Orochimaru staggered back, letting go of the boy who flipped backward and another hand-seal later, five rock-blades were protruding from Orochimaru's gut.

More would have pierced had a giant snake not coiled around him protectively, taking the hits from a dozens of rock-knives that embedded themselves in the snakes hide.

Orochimaru snarled as he caressed his injury. The boy wanted to play rough, didn't he?

When the snake disappeared with a puff of smoke, Orochimaru was revealed, holding the famed Kusanagi in his hands.

-Uzumaki-

"Sasori-san, could you please make a prosthetic arm for me?"

"You're bleeding."

"Oh, that? It is of no consequence. My latest capture put on quite a fight. Quite an impressive ninja. He forced me to use excessive force, and hence the arm. After I am done studying that wonderful seal which allows him to use pure nature chakra, he will make a good addition to my personal squadron of elite ninja."

"You do realize that even with the prosthetic, he will never be able to use double handed ninjutsu again."

"He is an Uzumaki, I'm sure he will figure something out."

-Uzumaki-

Years in the servitude of Orochimaru had given Rei a thirst for knowledge like his master, although he never really excelled in gleaning secrets from dead bodies like Orochimaru and his protege, Kabuto. Rather, he excelled in the field of genjutsu and sealing, looking at the two not as a vast array of techniques and skills to be memorized, but rather as simple systems that followed a few underlying rules. With the manupilation of these rules and his keen intellect, he easily rose through the ranks of Orochimaru's subordinates, growing in reputation every day.

His brown eyes never really allowed him to appear threatening to his opponents and so soon they were hidden behind messy red hair that flew in every direction. Not many could claim to knowing about the 'Raigan Uzumaki' and that was how he liked it. He lived a life mostly of solitude, hidden behind stacks of books on genjutsu theory, rarely interacting with his peers, surfacing only to complete the missions Orochimaru sent him. Whenever he was forced to interact with other people, he left them feeling as though they had just been studied through a microscope, each and every secret of theirs revealed.

Even the famed Uchiha, Orochimaru's to-be-body, felt unnerved when he met the 17 year old for the first time. Over the next few years, Rei was followed by narrowed eyes whenever he crossed paths with Sasuke. The Uzumaki ignored the boy obviously not caring of the Uchiha's opinion of him.

He had better stuff to do. Books to read. Missions to complete. Broken promises to mourn.

He tried not to think about Kushina.

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So that's a wrap. Hope you people enjoyed it!

Read and Review!

-ProdigyPsycho


	2. Part 1: Otogakure (1)

_Genjutsu is considered as one of the most difficult jutsu styles used, on par with Sealing. Ninjutsu and Taijutsu are considered the easiest. Heavily simplified, all that is needed for those specializing in Ninjutsu and Taijutsu is to learn a sequence or a series of positions, and use them against you enemy._

 _Genjutsu, however, is a bit more complex. For one thing, you have to continuously use hand-seals while keeping the genjutsu active, so flexible fingers are a must. Another is that you should be able to understand each component of the genjutsu before using it. Although they may have the same name, no two instances of genjutsu are the same. Depending on the position of the enemy, his or her size and mental state of the time, you should be able to properly modify the illusion before you can yourself adept at the art._

 _Genjutsu, unlike Ninjutsu or Taijutsu, should not be looked at as a move, but rather a system consisting of numerous parts, each to be understood thoroughly before use. In so, it could be compared to the art of sealing, in which every strokes should be mastered, both in understanding its use as well as execution, always being changed according to the situation. In so, those who are adept at seals can become quite proficient at genjutsu, if they can get rid of the stiff fingers got after using the brush for hours._

-Genjutsu for Beginners. Chapter 1, 'An Introduction to Genjutsu'

-Uzumaki-

Kakashi looked at Jiraiya quizzically.

"Kusagakure? Are you sure Orochimaru is here? Didn't he make a village called Otogakure?"

"Yes, I'm pretty sure that this is the place. Over the last two years, sightings of Kusagakure ninja have become extremely rare while Otogakure ninja sightings have been rising drastically. When Orochimaru was back in Konoha, he wanted to be a village leader, so if he failed there, why wouldn't he try here? According to the info I've gathered, I think he made a deal with the Kusa leader to make him commander of the ninja corps while the leader himself takes care of the civilian matters. That allows Orochimaru to have a steady supply of test subjects for his experiments."

Kakashi lapsed back into silence, thinking about it. Every village leader was honour bound to provide their best for the citizens of the village. The Kusa leader must have known that making a deal with Orochimaru would be detrimental to the village. So why had he done it?

Orochimaru may have been rich, but he was in no terms rich enough to buy his rank there. Kusagakure may have been small, but it was a thriving village with a healthy annual income from their civilian sector. Orochimaru definitely did not offer his services as another ninja himself; Kakashi couldn't imagine him doing something like that, _ever._ That meant Orochimaru never bribed his way to the top.

He couldn't stop the chill going up his spine.

Orochimaru threatened his way up there.

From reputation and from personal experience, Kakashi knew that Orochimaru was one _twisted_ being. If Orochimaru really _threatened_ you, you had no choice but to do what he wanted.

"Alright team, get ready. We go in at nightfall."

Naruto and Sakura grimly nodded, both not caring about the conversation that Kakashi and Jiraiya had. They were _this_ close to getting Sasuke back, and no one was going to stop them. No matter how much they got hurt, they would go on until Sasuke came back.

Speaking about people that got hurt, Kakashi thought about the Kusa leader. He knew that he should separate his feelings from the mission, but...

He couldn't help feeling a stab of pity for the leader.

-Uzumaki-

A group of ninja had infiltrated them, apparently. Four, to be precise.

And Rei didn't care one bit.

He continued his slow walk, completely immersed in the book he was reading. _The Psychology behind Genjutsu._ The book was rather fascinating, a fresh breath of a different perspective from other books on genjutsu that he read. The other books focused on which hand-seals were required to make a background, how to influence emotions, how to make the main character of the illusion do its job, and so on. Mostly, the technical stuff.

This one instead focused on the more interesting parts, what made genjutsu one of the most difficult jutsu systems to master, Colour schemes to induce a variety of emotions in the subject without emotion manipulation, why understated genjutsu were sometimes more effective then brutal onslaughts and so on. Rei walked on, head completely buried in the book.

He ignored the two ninja that rushed past him to fight one of the intruders. Frankly, he didn't care about them. Both the intruders and the other Oto ninja. The book was so much more interesting. Orochimaru frowned at Rei's laid-back attitude. Although Rei performed every mission Orochimaru gave him, unless ordered to, Rei wouldn't lift a finger to help any of his fellow ninja, unless they were Karin, Juugo or Kabuto. Rei did like them a lot more than the other ninja there.

Turning around the corner of the tunnel, he encountered Kabuto leaning against one of the walls, apparently waiting for him. Rei looked up at Kabuto coolly, raising an eyebrow as if to ask, _'What?'_

Kabuto chuckled. "A team of four Konoha ninja have infiltrated the base. All of them quite powerful, the weakest is just below Sasuke in terms of skill. Would you like to help me take care of one of them?"

Rei looked on unimpressed before continuing to walk onwards, eyes drifting across the words of his book again.

"One of them is an Uzumaki."

That stopped Rei short. An Uzumaki survivor? He knew about Karin, of course, but another? He thought back to the promise he had given Tousen back when Ushiogakure was still a village.

" _Will you take the responsibility of being the protector of our legacy?"_

" _I will."_

He obviously had told Karin about his story, to which she replied "Rei, they're gone. You did your best, trying to keep your promises to them, and look where its landed you, one arm lost and serving the same person that broke into your village. I think it is time you stopped living for others and start living for you."

And he had tried living by her words. He learnt what he wanted, killed who he wanted, and only worked for a person other than himself just to preserve himself.

But now, the presence of an Uzumaki was enough for him to be swayed.

And then it hit him. An Uzumaki from Konoha. Last he checked, there was only one Uzumaki who made it to Konoha before Ushiogakure fell.

Kushina.

Kushina was here.

But Kabuto told him that Kushina died nearly 16 years ago. So that meant...

Rei sucked in a deep breath and immediately turned to Kabuto, snapping his book shut and sealing it in a scroll he kept on his belt.

"Let's go."

Kabuto smirked again.

-Uzumaki-

Rei walked into the large room and took in the sight. This was one of the practice rooms Orochimaru had made for his newer recruits/experiments for them to practice with their new found abilities. Rei himself had used the room when he had just gotten his wooden arm. It had taken about a month of serious work to infuse the arm with all the seals he wanted. Now, that arm was the thing that let him become one of the most feared ninja in Otogakure. Slammed across the walls of the room and littering the floor were the bodies of various lower level Otogakure ninja. Almost twenty of them.

This was enough to impress Rei. Beating twenty opponents was no mean feat. Even if they came at her or him one after the other, as opposed to all at once, it was no mean feat. Kushina's child must have become a formidable ninja. In the middle of the room, a blonde teenage boy was busy finishing off another chuunin by slamming a blue sphere of chakra straight into his gut. Then the boy turned around to face them.

Rei frowned, as he studied the teen. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and he looked nothing like Kushina, excluding his jaw structure. Had Kabuto lied? The boy narrowed his eyes at them.

"You." He spat at Kabuto. Kabuto simply smiled at the boy. "Hello Naruto-kun. I'd like to stay and chat, but I have other places to be. So instead I brought my friend here. I know the two of you will become best of friends."

Somehow Rei doubted it. The boy showed his emotions too freely. Rei never did deal with emotional people well. And the boy seemed to make it a personal mission not to like him just because Kabuto suggested that the two should become friends.

Giving an enraged scream, the boy (Naruto) rushed at them a blue orb of chakra forming in his palm, his eyes locked on Kabuto. Whatever the jutsu was, it seemed like bad news. So Rei immediately shot a barrage of Raigan at Naruto.

The boy dodged the volley of rock-blades and this time locked eyes with Rei.

Rei stared back impassively. Rei had no real quarrel with Naruto, but he did feel a burst of anger spring up in his chest at Kabuto's trickery. Just because Kabuto didn't want to fight the kid, he lied about him being an Uzumaki. Rei could appreciate the skill needed to lie _that_ perfectly, but he did not like being taken for a fool.

Evenly he stated to the boy "Your fight is with me." As he did so, the seal his mother had put on him started to activate, causing black tendril-like marks creep over the left side of his body, the only visible evidence were the marks on his face. Nature Chakra flowed through him, empowering him, strengthening his senses.

Slowly he pushed it out, saturating the room with his chakra. Kabuto smirked in acknowledgement before leaving the room.

Now he pushed some chakra into his wooden arm, causing the seals on it to become visible as they activated, and he moved his fingers, twitching them much like a puppeteer, as he subtly wove the genjutsu through the entire room.

The boy forewent his defensive stance, and rushed straight at Rei, who brought his right hand up to form a half seal. It was a feint used to divert the attention from his left, wooden hand, which still wove the genjutsu throughout the room.

When Naruto was close enough, he activated the genjutsu.

The fight had begun.

-Uzumaki-

Naruto ground his teeth in frustration. The twelve clones around felt more or less the same. That Rei guy was annoying. Every time any one of his clones got anywhere close to him, the guy would turn into red lightning and reappear at the opposite end of the room.

It was like freaking teleportation! How the hell were you supposed to hurt a teleporter that could sense you when you were behind him?! And the guy didn't even have any attacks at all! All he did was throw small rock kunai things at him that the clones always dodged. This was going to be a long fight. Naruto hated long fights.

Naruto aimed a kick at the guy. The guy used his Red Lightning jutsu to teleport away. Another Naruto tried to tackle him. The guy used his Red Lightning jutsu. A third Naruto tried to shove a Rasengan down the guy's throat. The guy shot a rock-kunai through the clones gut. Another clone tried the same. The guy used the Red Lightning jutsu again.

Couldn't the guy just stay in one place?!

-Uzumaki-

Rei stood in the middle of the room as he watched detachedly as the clones surrounded him, panting as they tried to catch him. It was futile, all their chasing being for nought. But now everything was in place for him to finish the battle.

It was time to end this.

"Give up, and I will not kill you. You can walk away, I will walk away, and we probably will never see each other again."

The boy stared resolutely at him, not budging an inch.

Very well.

This time, when Rei brought his right hand up in a hand-seal, he actually did mould chakra in it. The clone behind him exploded in puff of smoke. Small sparks of electricity that were to small for the naked eye, discharged off into nonexistence.

Naruto's eyes widened. Another clone popped. And another. And another. Four clones popped, without anything hitting them.

"How are you doing that?"

Rei silently scoffed. Did the boy really expect him to explain his trick? And he chuckled the wording. Most of the things he did were indeed tricks. The jutsu he was using was a variation of the Raigan.

Originally, the Raigan was a way for the members of the Hagane family, a clan from both Kumo and Iwa, to get used to using their kekkai genkai, the Metal release. The Raigan was a combination of Earth and Lightning natured chakras. The Earth was used to make a rock, the lightning chakra used to give it sharpness due to lightning secondary trait.

What Rei was doing was spreading his own chakra throughout the room, using its Earth nature to form small dust particles in the air. Then he applied his lightning chakra to them, effectively making a million microscopic Raigan. Overloading the Lightning chakra caused it to discharge, immediately giving the nearest clone an electric shock powerful enough to disperse it.

But the effect it produced was amazing. People who knew nothing of elemental chakra wondered how he could give anyone he wanted an electric shock. Others, who knew that lightning chakra couldn't be made into pure electricity away from the source, thought Rei had broken that rule. And if Rei could break that rule, what was stopping him from breaking the rest?

Rei said nothing. Instead, he popped all of Naruto's clones simultaneously. Since he didn't know which one was the original Naruto, he also gave the real one a shock strong enough to send him to his knees.

"Give up?"

"Hell no."

The prompt reply took Rei back a bit. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why not?"

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Naruto tried mustering up enough strength to get back on his feet. But the electric shock had taken way more out of him than expected. His muscles still burned from the effort. When that failed, he settled for looking Rei in the eyes.

"To never give up... To never surrender..." Naruto started between ragged breaths that escaped his mouth. "To protect all my friends... THAT is my NINJA WAY!" he finished with a yell. Wincing as he slowly got back to his feet, Naruto met Rei's gaze squarely.

"So kill me if you want, but I, Naruto Uzumaki, will never give up! Dattebayo!"

Rei stood there impassively as he listened to Naruto's impassioned speech. The kid really did have a flair for drama. So did Kushina. And the boy also had the same verbal tick she had. Were they really related?

Deciding to take the leap, Rei asked "Was your mother an Uzumaki?"

Rei hoped the answer was affirmative, that this was really Kushina's child, but the kid just scrunched up his face in confusion.

"What?"

Rei growled in frustration before repeating the question.

"Are you Kushina Uzumaki's child?"

Naruto continued staring at Rei, his eyebrows still scrunched up in confusion.

"I...I don't know...I never met my parents."

Annoyance flashed before Rei's features before calm collectedness came back. With a vague hand gesture, electricity sparked again, and Naruto fell back to the ground, clearly knocked out, his breathing shallow. Rei turned and walked out of the room, pulling his book back out from his scroll. It wouldn't do well for the boy to continue standing up for too long; his muscles were already at their breaking point. The electric discharge Rei gave Naruto wasn't anything harmful, just enough to knock him out.

After all, it wouldn't do well to kill Kushina's child.

The boy would live to see another day.

With that, Rei went back to reading about how genjutsu could be used in tandem with other jutsu styles.

* * *

Heyo people! That's the second chapter of Uzumaki. Hope you liked it!

I beta'ed this chapter myself, so there may be a few spelling and gramatical mistakes. In case you find any, please do tell me. I'll try to fix them up as fast as possible.

I'd like to thank all those who spent their time reading this.

Hope you enjoyed!

-ProdigyPsycho


	3. Part 1: Otogakure (2)

Hey there! I know, it has been far too long since I posted this and there are a huge lists of reasons, but lets chalk it up to me being a sadistic bastard. Sorry about that.

Apparently some people like my work. Which is awesome! Thanks for the support.

I'd like to thank:- 

Akahana Yukiko, Eryn Micheals, Shy911, anthonyharrishra57 and tres lapir for favouriting the story.

King ofheroes, Muito, Shy911, alex1893, anthonyharrishra57, katchile94 for following the story

Guest, Guest and thor94 for reviewing. Unless both Guest(s) are the same person. Then I thank only one Guest.

thor94- I'm sorry, but no badass Uzumaki bloodline will be there. But I do plan on giving Naruto a few more skills. But that will be much later. And I'm trying to stress on the _deception_ part of ninja, so maybe all the new skill will not be actually new skills, but maybe old skills used in a new way? I won't reveal much, because, like I said before, I'm a sadistic bastard and I'd rather keep y'all guessing about what the hell just happened. Just Kidding. Call it a cliffhanger worthy of Rick Riodan. Hopefully.

* * *

Sasuke had to give her credit. For someone who refused to attack him, she did provide quite a challenge. She ducked under another of his sword strikes, still trying to appeal to his better nature. Sasuke scoffed, he did _not_ have a better nature. He was an avenger. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Damn it Sasuke! I don't want to fight you!"

"Then you shouldn't have come here." He easily replied. "You know I was here. All my ties with Konoha have been severed. Now it is nothing more than another shinobi village to me. And you are nothing more that another enemy that needs to be defeated."

Sakura just snarled as she ducked away from another sword strike.

"Why are you doing this? The Sasuke I knew would never side with a monster like Orochimaru!"

"The Sasuke you knew is dead. All that's left is me."

This time his sword hit the target. A long but shallow cut appeared along Sakura's upper arm. Using her flinch to his advantage, he spun around and delivered a hard kick to her exposed side. She slid back a few meters from the force of the kick and came to a standstill.

Sasuke smirked. She was now injured so her reactions would be dulled by pain. Another easy win. Even back in the day, she always was extremely weak, nearly useless as a ninja. And her precious 'Sasuke-kun' just cut her. The expression on her face was priceless. Her eyes wide with surprise and betrayal and it would be so easy to just _run his sword straight through-_

Sakura actually growled this time.

"He's dead, isn't he? Then I'll have no problem punching your guts _out of you!"_

With an inexplicable burst of energy, she charged forward with a quick left-right punch combo followed by a kick which Sasuke barely dodged while thinking ' _What in the world?'_

Sakura was nearly unstoppable; Sasuke didn't try blocking her attacks. He had jumped out of the way of one of her overhead axe kick and his mind was still reeling from the crater left behind.

He tried putting some distance between them, and distracting her with a fireball, but she neatly avoided the worst burns and threw a kunai aimed straight for his head, throwing him off balance, allowing her to close the gap. His Sharingan was the only thing keeping her from landing a blow that would have ended his life and even then, just barely was he surviving. He was faster than her, but she wasn't that far behind. Every kick dodged, every punch deflected, and Sasuke was thanking whatever god that was protecting him for not letting him die.

He sheathed his sword to trade in attack power for mobility and focused on her arms. As clear as day, he could see the chakra focused around her fist. That explained her insane strength. Just as she made contact with the target, she let loose a burst of chakra straight from her knuckles causing whatever the target to be blown apart to bits. To be able to let out chakra in such controlled bursts, it truly was a testament to how high her control was. It also showed Sasuke the weak point of the entire technique.

Regular strengthening techniques focused on supplying chakra to the entire arm, thus reinforcing it entirely as opposed to what Sakura was doing. Since the chakra was spread throughout the entire arm, the amount of chakra allowed to burst through the knuckles was significantly reduced. Sakura's technique focused on increasing the amount of chakra in her knuckles for maximising effect. But conversely, it also left her entire upper arm sorely exposed. Without the chakra backing it up, Sasuke could easily lock Sakura's arm.

He stepped back periodically, timing her blows as he avoided them, and when the moment was right, he struck.

She swung at his face as he leaned back, barely brushing his nose with her fist, and he immediately raised his arm to get a grip above her elbow. Before she could react, he had twisted her arm behind her back, and swept her legs out from under her. Her head was just below his, and he could picture the expression of complete rage on it.

A bit more pressure and he could easily snap her arm. But he wanted to savour this moment. After all, one rarely did get the chance to kill one's own ex-teammate.

He leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"I've got to admit it. You surprised me back there. You really have grown up from the useless girl you were back then, but the fact remains that I'm stronger than you. And I will continue getting stronger until I can do what I was meant to do."

Sakura's eyes widened at his next words.

"Sadly, you won't be alive to witness it."

He freed one of his arms and unsheathed his sword with it.

After everything that happened, maybe Sasuke would get the opportunity to run his blade through her.

-Uzumaki-

He dodged another scalpel and threw a few kunai of his own, ducking again as Kabuto pulled back his scalpels with a chakra string. His hands flew into a flurry of hand-seals as he moulded his chakra. Slamming his hands into the earth he used The Earth Spikes technique he had copied a long time ago.

Kabuto easily back flipped out of the way avoiding the sudden rise in the earth, simultaneously throwing a couple of hollow glass balls at Kakashi's feet, releasing the gaseous poison inside them. Kakashi was never more thankful for the presence of his multiple masks as they filtered out the poison and kept it out of his system. Using the basic Lightning Manipulation, he hyper-charged his nerves to make him run faster. He wasn't as skilled in the technique as the Raikage, but it would do. The burst of speed allowed him to cut Kabuto across the cheek with a kunai before the Sound jounin blocked his second strike with a chakra scalpel.

The two were soon locked in a taijutsu fight, both moving at speeds far beyond a regular ninjas ability. One enhanced his speed with Lightning Chakra; the other enhanced his with the usage of medical techniques to boost his reflexes.

 _Dodge. Block. Parry. Strike. Retreat. Feint. Strike._

Kakashi's body soon fell into the quick rhythm of a close range fight as ducked and weaved around Kabuto's scalpels, throwing in a few attacks of his own.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi was distracted by his students' fight. His eyes widened as he saw Sasuke tackle Sakura to the ground and unsheathe his sword.

Jumping back from Kabuto, he flung three kunai at the medic, and not waiting to see his reaction, Kakashi burst out towards his student, his hands racing through the seals.

As he neared the two, he drew his hands back; both alighting with blue sparks that flew off giving rise to the terrible chirping sound that signified the end of his enemies.

 _Chidori._

-Uzumaki-

Orochimaru did not frown easily. He rarely found a reason too. The deaths of his underlings, the destruction of one of his secret labs, even his banishment from Konoha. They were no reasons to frown. They were minor losses caused by the fools who went against his glorious goals. The loss of a few pawns did not mean you would lose the match. The only thing that made him frown was when his king was in danger of being captured; when his life was in danger.

And Orochimaru was frowning now. Oh he was past frowning, straight into the realm of growling.

Jiraiya had come prepared. Ranged paralysis seals, chakra suppression seals, and self enhancement seals were just some of the things Jiraiya had come with. For all his skill as a seal master, these were shoddy, barely doing what they were meant to do. Orochimaru could easily shrug off such annoyances. But Orochimaru had forgotten one important piece of information about his ex-teammate.

The Sannin were all about sciences and knowledge.

Tsunade was unmatched in her knowledge of biology, giving her an unbelievable strength and medical prowess. Orochimaru was the highest authority in physics and chemistry. With his knowledge of physical forces he could understand the most complicated jutsu and use them in ways that would leave other people gaping. With his knowledge about chemistry, he could design drugs that could make an average civilian match a jounin in physical ability.

When it came down the techniques they used, Jiraiya could not hope to match his teammates, except maybe in Summoning and Earth Manipulation. But when it came down to a fight, Jiraiya was easily the most dangerous among them. His years of being in the information business gave him unparalleled perception. With just a glance he could tell what kind of techniques you specialized in. The next time you met him, he would have found a counter for each of them. And although it never really was classified as one, Jiraiya had information gathering down to a science.

And with his perception came the ability to predict each of his opponents moves perfectly. What use is having all the jutsu in the world if they could never hit their target? What use is the rapid regeneration rate granted to him by the snakes if none of the wounds inflicted to him were physical?

Orochimaru was on the last dregs of his chakra. Instead of the brute force blows he expected from Jiraiya, the Toad Sage kept on lightly touching Orochimaru, barely putting any effort into the attack. Only when his reserves were halfway empty, did Orochimaru realize that Jiraiya was draining away his chakra with the chakra absorption seals on the burly man's hands. And Orochimaru tried making the fight a long range one but firing every jutsu he knew at the imbecilic Toad, but Jiraiya, using the Frog Katas easily jumped out of the way of each.

All Orochimaru had now was just enough for one jutsu.

Jiraiya held out his hand and chakra spilled out, condensing into a swirling ball of pure energy. Orochimaru's eyes widened. If the Rasengan hit him, everything would be over. His life ambition would never be finished. Orochimaru, the man chasing after immortality would die.

His frantic eyes landed on his choice for his next body. Sasuke was smirking down at his teammate as he slowly pulled out his katana. Orochimaru's hands blurred into the seals for the Soul Transference jutsu as Jiraiya rushed at him, the swirling orb of death approaching.

The Rasengan hit Orochimaru.

But a split second before that, Orochimaru's soul left its mortal shell.

It flew straight and true as it approached the two members of the most recent Team 7.

-Uzumaki-

Karin looked hesitantly at the battleground before her. Orochimaru-sama was locked in combat with Jiraiya, Kabuto against Kakashi of the Sharingan and Sasuke against that pink haired floozy from Konoha. Karin ground her teeth in frustration. She wanted to help, but she was totally helpless against foes of this level. She was a sensor and a medic. Not a fighter.

Help Orochimaru? No way. The two fighters there were part of the Legendary Sannin. The Sannin were able to survive against Hanzo of the Salamander when they were just twenty five. And Hanzo was a shinobi capable of fighting a Kage to a standstill. By now the Sannin individually were at Kage level and she did not want to deal with that shit. Karin liked living.

Kabuto? This was also a huge no. Kakashi was a jounin whose fighting prowess was legendary. She did not know how strong he was, but Kabuto was the one closest to Orochimaru's strength. And Kabuto himself was having a hard time against Kakashi. If she got anywhere closer to them, one of them would have definitely killed her. And that would be by accident.

Helping Sasuke would probably be the best choice, but she had seen the craters left by that pink haired girl's punches. And as much as she wanted to help Sasuke, she did not fancy becoming an Uzumaki pancake. Plus, Sasuke was strong. He could handle her.

She was broken out of her thoughts by the sound of birds chirping. She whipped her head about to see that Kakashi was rushing towards Sasuke at inhuman speeds with his hands glowing with Lightning chakra. That could not be good.

With a cry she rushed at Sasuke, intent on protecting him.

-Uzumaki-

It's funny how fate works. One small coincidence could have so many drastic consequences. The saying 'If something can go wrong, it will go wrong, and in the worst possible way' was definitely proved by the following incident

Kakashi's sole focus was on protecting Sakura from dying. So when the red-haired, crashed into Sasuke (presumably to save Sasuke from him) Kakashi finally opened himself to external stimulus and heard Kabuto chasing after him. Kakashi jumped back, avoiding the scalpel thrown by Kabuto, and with a Shunshin, Kakashi pierced Kabuto straight through his chest

Karin saved Sasuke from being skewered to death. But at the same time she moved Sasuke from his position. This also included the homing seal for the soul transference jutsu. So the soul altered to trajectory to aim at Sasuke again, and inadvertently entered Karin's body, which happened to be right in between the soul and Sasuke. The influx of another personality knocked Karin out cold.

By the time Sasuke fully comprehended what happened after rolling back onto his feet, he found himself sweep kicked by Sakura who had wasted no time in trying to understand the order of events. He crashed into the ground and immediately the breath was knocked out of him as Sakura landed with a knee on his chest and a kunai at his neck.

"Yield."

* * *

So yeah. literally nothing happened in this chapter. Just a very big fight scene.

Tell me what you think.

Hope you enjoyed!

-ProdigyPsycho


	4. Part 1: Otogakure (3)

Hey there! Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. I have a host of reasons, but I'd rather not get into them. This chapter isn't one of my better ones what with all the changes in perspective, but I couldn't think of a better way to do it. I'm sorry for any confusion that may arise.

* * *

 _The Edo Tensai was a jutsu created by the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama. It enabled the user to summon people who had passed away into the afterlife. Although he was it's creator, he never used it in battle as he felt it was disrespectful of the souls that rested. The jutsu achieved infamy in the hands of Orochimaru of the Sannin who used it in combat against the Third Hokage in his attack on Konoha._

 _-Notable Techniques of the Leaf_

-Uzumaki-

Jiraiya stared out of the window, intentionally looking away from the only other occupant of the room. Kabuto still had the extremely unsettling smile on his face. The smile could be considered charming, friendly, possibly kind, but Jiraiya knew better. One wrong move, one slip, and Kabuto would introduce you to a whole new world of pain.

They were in Kabuto's room, the one he used to retire into at the end of the day. It was surprisingly sparse, containing only an empty bed and a small bedside drawer on which stood a lamp. But then again, Kabuto and Orochimaru practically owned the entire village. Kabuto had a lot of space to store his stuff.

After Orochimaru's death, things had gone smoothly. Sasuke and the red haired girl were both knocked out (Sakura sucker punched the Uchiha. The look of surprise on his face was practically priceless before he slumped away into the blackness) Kabuto had immediately raised his hands in surrender seeing 3 very angry Konoha ninja turning onto him.

"May I ask why I am here?" Kabuto asked with faux-politeness, the smile stuck firmly on his face.

Kabuto and Sasuke were to be carted back to Konoha for their crimes against the village. That just left the entirety of Otogakure to be dealt with. Jiraiya soon after infiltration made a few contacts within the village and got some information on the general state of Otogakure. what he heard was not good. Although Orochimaru was one of the worst criminals outside here, within his village, he was practically a god.

Missing ninja, homeless travellers, injured people, runaway convicts, Orochimaru had taken all of them under his wing. Most of the people here had a huge grudge against ninja. Some ninja had destroyed their homes or killed their relatives, ruined their businesses. And Orochimaru cultivated this hate and fear.

He promised them a haven safe from the 'devils'. And to those who wanted to fight back, he trained. This promoted a lot of loyalty towards the snake, and the few who were his most devout followers, he experimented on them, gave them a painful death or abilities far beyond regular ninja. The risk they took was great, but the payout was better. Plus, these people trusted their leader. With the thousands of citizens under his command, Orochimaru would never run out of test subjects. And if he marshalled his people, he had a veritable _army_ of people who would fight for him.

Enough to pose a threat to one of the Great Five.

When Orochimaru's death would get public, people would have less than friendly feelings towards Leaf. Coupled with the fact that a lot of people hated Leaf for the fact that they had publicly shamed their Lord, it was definitely dangerous to leave them alone.

"I need some information from you. I do hope you are ready to cooperate." Jiraiya answered.

He needed someone to dissuade the people from outright attacking Konoha, someone who wasn't anti-Konoha, yet who garnered enough respect of the people for them to listen to him or her. And even with all the spies he finally got inside Otogakure, Jiraiya still didn't know the names of Orochimaru's most respected ninja. So instead of going about it the roundabout way but listening in on conversations and asking veiled questions, Jiraiya decided to go straight to man who knew the most about Oto.

"Don't you know that information straight from the snake's mouth will be warped? Or are you just a masochist?"

"Only during sex." The old man quipped, finally turning towards Kabuto "I need the names of the most prominent ninja of Otogakure."

Kabuto stayed silent for a moment, tilting his head downwards, but keeping his eyes on Jiraiya.

"I presume you want their names to prevent to stop Otogakure from attacking Konoha. Sadly for you, most of them hate all types of ninja that aren't part of Otogakure, which also extends to Konoha, so no luck there. The few that don't hate ninja won't leave Konoha unharmed."

Jiraiya scowled, "I suppose I'll have to take what I get. Give me names

From the Fuuma clan, there's Arashi-kun, but if he's extremely concerned about raising the prestige of his clan, so you'll have to expect some war-mongering. Then there is Rei-san and Guren-san, but both of them will definitely disagree to lead Otogakure."

Jiraiya's brow creased as he heard each of the options. Before he could get lost in thoughts again, Kabuto spoke up again.

"And then there's me."

Jiraiya blinked. "You?" he asked, almost scathingly. Kabuto was unperturbed.

"Why not? I don't have a bone to pick with Konoha. The only person I have a grudge against is Danzo, and I suspect I'm not the only ninja of Konoha to do so. Plus, after defecting from the village, Orochimaru signed me up as a legal citizen of the Land of Sound. The Pact made between all Elemental Countries state that a Hidden Village cannot imprison or kill a ninja not of that village, when he or she is within the lands of the country he or she belongs to. So, as of right now, you can on no grounds take me back to Konoha legally. If you do, Oto is well within its rights to demand compensation. If denied, you can be assured that Oto will wage war on Konoha."

Politics? Jiraiya raised his brow in challenge. It was a well made argument. If Oto wages war on Konoha, it undoubtedly would lose, but Konoha would be seriously damaged too. And in its weakened state, Konoha would be easy prey for the other villages looking for a fight, namely Kumo and Iwa. What Konoha needed was an Oto leader that could see that it stood no chance of winning against Konoha. A pragmatist, rather than a war-like one. Kabuto definitely fit the bill.

The argument was no doubt well made, but Kabuto had forgotten one thing. No matter how good he was at twisting the truth, he was no Orochimaru. And Jiraiya had spent his entire childhood as one of the snake's closest friend. This argument was flimsy as compared to Orochimaru's standards.

"Good point, although you should notice that there is also a clause for dual citizenship for marriages of citizens from two different villages. And Konoha never really wiped you out of its citizenship records, so you still are a citizen of the Land of Fire. Sadly for you, that means you're coming back home. Legally."

Kabuto adjusted his glasses and his friendly smile turned predatory.

"Well played. I assume the same is done for Orochimaru, for his death to be completely harmless for Konoha?"

Jiraiya gave a noncommittal shrug.

Kabuto turned to look out the window Jiraiya was currently next to. Giving a melodramatic sigh he shook his head and chuckled softly to something that only he found funny. Jiraiya's eyes narrowed. Kabuto was planning something

"Well I suppose I have no choice but to offer that last card I have in hand. I can offer you leader that commands the peoples respect, as well won't attack Konoha." Kabuto thought about it for a moment. "And who isn't me." He added as an afterthought.

"What's the catch?"

"So untrusting. There is no catch other that the fact that he's dead."

Jiraiya glared sharply at Kabuto. "The Edo Tensai?"

"Indeed." Kabuto answered with a soft malicious smile. Noticing the glare, Kabuto's smile widened. "Yes, I do have a hidden agenda, but it isn't that I will be able to control him when he is summoned. I don't have enough mastery over the jutsu. If you want, I can give you the scroll for you to make sure no trickery is afoot."

"I don't have a problem with it other than your motives. Care to elaborate?"

Kabuto was about to retort with a witty remark when the Killing Intent in the room skyrocketed. Kabuto's muscles tensed as his eyes darted to Jiraiya. The Toad Sage was smiling softly at Kabuto. HE wasn't even trying, yet Kabuto had already broken out into a cold sweat. Kabuto might have been strong, but he was no match for one of the Legendary Sannin. It would be best for him not to agitate Jiraiya anymore.

Gulping down a bit of air as Jiraiya lessened the pressure, Kabuto raised a hand to adjust his glasses. His fingers were shaking. He breathed out slowly to calm himself and turned to face Jiraiya. In his calmest voice he forced out.

"I need the village to be in the best condition it can be in when I return. And to accomplish that, I need to align myself with your goals for the moment." At Jiraiya's questioning glance, he answered "I know, compared to the best in the village, I pose no real threat, but how long do you think a prison fun by regular chuunin and jounin can hold me?"

It wasn't a barb, it wasn't a throwaway comment. This was a serious question. And Jiraiya knew this. Outside Tsunade and himself, and maybe Kakashi, Gai and Asuma, Kabuto could easily evade anyone sent after him. And given enough time, Kabuto would find away to escape. After all, snakes were known for escaping traps, but against an entire village? That would take a lot of cunning and ability. It had a slim chance of being true, but it wasn't completely out of the realm of possibility.

Giving a soft sigh, Jiraiya closed his eyes.

"I'm willing to take my chances."

-Uzumaki-

"Err.. Uzumaki-san?"

Sakura poked her head through the door of the library to see the red haired man reading a book. He turned to meet her eyes, and Sakura was forced to blink at the aura of sheer _apathy_ he gave out.

"Jiraiya-sama wished for you to meet him. He said to go to Kabuto's room."

The man stood up and walked out of the library, not giving Sakura a second glance. Sakura stared at his retreating figure and shuddered.

That was creepy.

-Uzumaki-

"A chakra transference seal that can supply nature chakra? How long do want it to last?"

"Can you make it indefinite? I know it might be a bit outside the realm of possibility, but try to make it last for as long as-"

"I'll have it ready in a day."

Rei walked out of the room.

-Uzumaki-

"That is some complicated seal work right there. I wouldn't have thought about using a storage component while modifying the chakra signature. And that filtering process? Did you use an encrypted self correction amplifying system for shortage of chakra? I never really understood how to use those."

Rei didn't reply to the huge hulking white haired man who was peering over his shoulder as he adjusted his weight to get more comfortable on the floor and continued working on the seal array. He felt a mild spike of annoyance that someone was critiquing his work, but he didn't act on it.

The room was small and sparse. Jiraiya had the feeling that it was a recurring theme. A simple bed was in the corner, with a bedside bookshelf, with a dozen or so books populating its shelves. A simple hanging lamp stood above their heads, illuminating the room.

The doors the Rei's room were flung open as his blonde nephew of sorts (he confirmed it with Jiraiya, Naruto was indeed Kushina's son) strutted inside the room.

"Hey! Ero Sennin! Sakura-chan told me you would be he-"Naruto stopped short when he saw Rei in the room. Crossing his arms and huffing he pouted "What's _he_ doing here?"

Jiraiya turned to his apprentice, giving him a quizzical glance at the sudden hostility. "He's doing me a favour. It's a bit a fuuinjutsu he's helping me out with. Wanna watch?"

Naruto scrunched up his eyebrows "Bah! Fuuinjutsu is boring. You said you would help me train."

Jiraiya looked pointedly away from Rei's questioning look as he petted Naruto on the head, just to get a rise out of the boy.

"I will. We're nearly done here. I'll be out with you in a few minutes."

Naruto squinted at Jiraiya (Jiraiya tried very hard not to glomp the kid. That attempt at trying to be scary was pathetic. It actually just made Naruto cuter. Speaking of which, Jiraiya made a mental note to show Naruto how to exert Killing Intent.) Giving up, Naruto turned to glare at the seal array and scoffed.

"That too big to be effective. You pull that out in the middle of a battle and-"

Rei pushed his chakra into the encryption matrix to activate it. The seal glowed and contracted, the complicated tangle of lines spanning an impressive square meter of the floor turning into a small triangle inscribed in a circle with the kanji for 'chakra' written within. Rei picked up a small piece of sealing paper, the size of an exploding tag, placed it over the encrypted seal and applied some more chakra. When he lifted the paper, the seal had been transferred onto the paper. Getting up, he handed the seal over to Jiraiya and glanced over at Naruto.

The blonde just scowled and stalked out of the room.

Jiraiya inspected the seal and turned back to Rei. "14 hours. You said you would take a day."

Rei walked over to his bedside table to pick up his book.

"It seemed like Naruto-san did not like being here. I simply tried to shorten his pain."

Jiraiya laughed uneasily glancing back at the door Naruto just walked out of. "He's usually much more mature than this. I really don't know what got him all riled up when it comes to you."

Rei waved his hand dismissively over his shoulders, as he flipped through the pages. He understood Naruto's agitation. He rubbed off the wrong way against many people. He had simply accepted it as a part of his life and moved on.

He turned to face Jiraiya, his eyes already scanning the pages of his book. This one was a history book, retelling the accounts of the Rikodu Sennin. "Although, I have one question about Naruto." He looked up at Jiraiya. "He finds Fuuinjutsu boring?"

Jiraiya offered another nervous chuckle.

-Uzumaki-

Kabuto glanced at the only two occupants of the room. Jiraiya standing a few feet away, arms crossed before his chest. Kakashi stood a small distance away, casually leaning against the wall, keeping an eye on the proceedings. Kabuto adjusted his glasses as he descended onto the floor, going into a lotus position. He went through the hand seals of the jutsu, keenly aware of the attention the two were paying him. As he finished the sequence he slammed his hands down onto seal before him. The floor cracked open and out of it came a plain wooden coffin. The Jiraiya watched carefully as to who the coffin was releasing as its door swung open.

The confused white haired eighteen year old was greeted with the sight of Jiraiya and Kakashi watching him carefully for aggressive movements. A cough from behind broke his attention.

"Kabuto-san?"

Kabuto rose slowly, panting slightly. The Edo Tensai wasn't a jutsu that anyone could pull off. It had nearly taken all his chakra to complete. Smiling at the confused ninja in front of him he proceeded to welcome him.

"Kimimaro-san, welcome back. It seems like you have missed a lot."

Jiraiya cut in before Kabuto could go any further.

"Orochimaru is dead. Oto needs a leader."

Kimimaro scrunched his eyebrows. "And I suppose you want me to take over his position?"

It wasn't that hard a leap of logic. If Orochimaru had had died like an ordinary person would (And that was highly unlikely) Kabuto would have definitely taken over. But the presence of the Leaf ninja meant Konoha had somehow gotten some upper hand over Orochimaru-sama, and objected to Kabuto ruling. So Kabuto must have chosen him to rule in his stead.

But Kimimaro felt that he wasn't ready to lead an entire village. Other than the Art of Death and serving Orochimaru-sama, Kimimaro had found no other calling, yet he hated taking away the life of fellow humans and Orochimaru was dead. How can a man give his people a purpose without having a purpose of his own?

As if he was reading his mind, Kabuto smiled before speaking. "You have always stated that your calling in life was to serve Orochimaru-sama. What better way is there to serve him other that taking his legacy under your wing?"

It was beautiful, Kabuto mused as he watched Kimimaro think about his statement. One elegant statement and he had both made the unsuspecting Leaf ninja happy, and guaranteed the safety of his life.

The Edo Tensai could be dismissed in three ways. One was if the summoned person knew the hand seals of the dismissal, it could dismiss itself. The second was if the jutsu user died. The third was if the summoned person got true peace.

The Konoha ninja couldn't kill him without risking the death of Kimimaro too and the rise in anti Konoha sentiments in Sound, and when, not if, he broke out he could tell Kimimaro that Orochimaru would have been pleased with him. Since Kimimaro felt that his purpose in life was to serve Orochimaru, it could bring him inner peace and get dismissed.

Kabuto really loved deceptions.

He resurfaced from his thoughts when Kimimaro spoke.

"I accept."

* * *

Yeah, so if it wasn't clear the following happens.

-Jiraiya wants an Oto ninja who is respected in Oto and would not go to war with the Leaf over the assassination of its previous Leader Orochimaru.

-Kabuto suggests using the Edo Tensai. (here is where the AU part comes in). HE suggests Kimimaro because he fulfils all three conditons. i) He defers to Kabuto. ii)He is known well enough to gain the respect f the Oto citizens iii) He doesn't wish to take part in unnecessary wars.

-Jiraiya agrees and asks Rei to make a seal that can supply chakra to the Edo Tensai, after Kabuto's chakra is sealed when he (Kabuto) is imprisoned. 

-Kimimaro is summoned and agrees to become the leader of Otogakure 

Also, I still don't have a beta, so point out any mistakes found. (Logical, Grammatical or Spelling). Although most of the Logical ones (like facts will probably be differing due to this being AU)

BTW Fuuma Arashi and Guren (Family name not Known) are both ninja from the anime.

Hope you all enjoyed.

Let me know what y'all think.

Peace out.

-ProdigyPsycho


	5. Part 2: Criminal (1)

Right. An alien kidnapped me. That's all the excuse I'm giving for not posting this earlier.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite(d?) and/or followed. It really helped with the motivation.

Review replies:

 _King ofheroes_

Thanks for reviewing.

Yeah, plus I think that's how it works in canon too. Kabuto never died, per se. He was trapped in the genjutsu cast by Itachi, so his Edo Tensai were still active. Madara knew the hand seals for the Edo Tensai, so he could break out of Kabuto's control. Or at least I think that's what happened. Not quite sure. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But in this story, yes the Edo Tensai doesn't work if the summoner dies. I also decided to make sure that the summoner has to supply all the chakra for the jutsu the Edo Tensai uses to make it less OP. In the war, Kabuto had sage mode, which kind of guarantees no shortage of chakra so Kabuto was able to summon all those troops.

It's great that you picked that out; I was kinda worried if I didn't elaborate on it much.

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 _The Red Lightning, unlike what it names implies, is not a Lightning based ninjutsu. It is a genjutsu based off the Fourth Hokage's Hiraishin. The genjutsu is twofold, first it makes the user completely invisible and second, created an illusionary clone which is implanted with a part of the users intelligence, the ability to make it look like it can convert its body to lightning and travel at the speed of light around enemies and a single order to evade. Although complex, it is nothing more than a distraction technique; the enemy chases the clone, while the real one hides and stealthily takes down the opponent from behind. The technique is created by Rei Uzumaki, using sealed genjutsu arrays which are drawn on his wooden left hand._

 _-Notes on Otogakure Ninja and their Techniques (Kabuto Yakushi)_

-Uzumaki-

Rei sat atop one of the tall spiraling towers at the center of the city, giving him a perfect view of Otogakure, but he paid it no heed, instead preferring to pay more attention to the book he was reading. The group of Konoha ninja had left with Kabuto and Sasuke in tow, leaving only Jiraiya behind, for reasons known only to the Toad Sannin.

It wasn't always that Rei came up here, his room had fewer distractions, but Jiraiya had requested to meet him in a place that was completely secure from any sort of spies. Rei had just raised an eyebrow to that, but had said nothing of the issue.

The tower he was on was a shoddily built thing in danger of collapsing any moment, but that was why Rei had chosen the area. Only a few skilled ninja could get up there without disturbing the crumbling walls. The trickle of cracked plaster and cement would alert him to any nearby ninja who were overly interested in what Jiraiya wished to speak to him about.

Jiraiya wouldn't have asked for a completely secure area if he wasn't going to discuss an unimportant matter, so Rei being the overly paranoid person he was applied a Sound Suppression Barrier seal at the corners of the roof top.

He continued reading, while a small part of his mind wondered why Jiraiya would want to meet him. The two were not quite friends, maybe acquaintances, but they did spend quite a bit of time discussing various kinds of seals in the library when both had free time to spare.

With Orochimaru's death, Rei could now easily leave Otogakure without fear of being tracked down by the Snake Sage. With his new found freedom, Rei had decided to try rebuilding his home village, but the discovery of Kushina's son, did give him a bit of indecision.

He had thought that with the reveal that he was destined to lead Uzushiogakure Naruto would have agreed to come along with him, but the boy had obstinately refused, saying he was a ninja of Konoha through and through. Rei was perplexed, if Naruto didn't wish to lead the new Uzushio, then who would?

Jiraiya appeared behind him, forcing Rei to abandon his previous thoughts. He turned to watch Jiraiya as the old man sat himself down on the edge of the roof, mimicking Rei as the redhead raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

Reading the non-verbal clue, Jiraiya began. "I asked Naruto about why he doesn't like you, and he told me about the fight. Said you kept asking about a certain Kushina?"

Rei stiffened, wondering where Jiraiya was going with this. Jiraiya paid no attention to the sudden wariness of the redhead and ploughed on. "Now I'm not going to ask why you want to know about his mother," Rei smiled, seeing that his hunch was right. Naruto had never confirmed it, but Rei did have a niggling feeling he was right all this time. The proof was always there. "But all I need to know is that you are a well-wisher of Naruto."

"I've asked around about you, you have quite a reputation. If you had no connection to him, you wouldn't have left him alive. He could have gained consciousness and rejoined the fight. Now I don't want to know what kind of connection you have with the brat, but all I want is to give you a bit of information."

Up went Rei's eyebrow again.

"There's an organization of S-rank missing-ninja that are after Naruto. Konoha is doing all it can to keep them away from Naruto, but the thing is-" here Jiraiya gave a melodramatic sigh "-we are woefully short of information."

"Now as a well known Konoha loyalist, I can't exactly join this organization without revealing my intentions, but I do know someone who can. I don't have much to give him, but I can assure...let's say...the safety of a certain Uzumaki, for a regular stream of information."

Rei narrowed his eyes. Was he threatening him? Rei tensed, ready to kill the man, but bid his time, waiting for the other man to state his intentions more clearly.

Noticing the sudden shift in mood, Jiraiya glanced at Rei, noted his posture as he realized the conclusion he might have jumped to and let out a loud guffaw. "Please. Like Konoha would dare harm him. Naruto is invaluable to us. We would really sign away our potentially most powerful ninja just for some information on the people trying to get said ninja."

Rei relaxed before scrunching his eyebrows. Naruto was potentially their most powerful ninja? Yes, Uzumaki were feared ninja, but that was mainly because of their sealing. A lot of other clans did have large chakra reserves, and regenerative powers, not to the extent of the Uzumaki (the Senju), so it definitely shouldn't have been because of that. Naruto didn't seem _that_ dangerous, he was maybe high-chuunin, not exactly something that said most powerful. So it was something implanted, something that only Uzumaki could hold. Rei's eyes widened.

The Bijuu.

Giving a glance at Rei, Jiraiya nodded. "The Kyuubi, to be exact. Now, we know nothing about the members of this organization, as I've said before, other than the fact that they are after our little Naru-chan. Now, if you can get us that information, we'll have a better chance of keeping away those ninja. I already have a spy within them, but he hasn't exactly got the chance to pass on the information. That's where you come in. You're new, so they probably won't give you too much information, but they will also give you much more breathing room. So you meet up with this contact of mine, get the information he has collected, and you then pass it on to me."

Jiraiya didn't ask if Rei was okay with it. It was obvious to those that actually thought about it. When Rei had thought that Naruto was in danger, he had tensed, ready to attack him. Now, Jiraiya wouldn't say that it would not be a close fight, it would, but it was painfully obvious that Rei had years to go before he could win. He knew that and so did Rei. But Rei was ready to do so anyway. That proved that Rei was willing to do whatever it took to keep Naruto alive. Now that Jiraiya had explained everything, Rei knew that both of their interests would be met if Rei went along with the plan.

Rei gave an imperceptible tilt of his head.

Jiraiya grinned.

"So now the question is, how do you plan on getting their attention? Well, I happen to know for a fact that Sunagakure isn't very happy with their Daimyo. Something about the fact that he keeps on contacting foreign ninja for missions rather than the ones back home. It turns out that the heir to the Daimyo's position also does have a bit of bad blood with the Daimyo regarding this."

"So, hypothetically, if someone managed to, I don't know, assassinate the Daimyo, and publicly announce that he did so, that someone would have the secret backing of Suna due to a small piece of information I leak to them, as well as get a huge boost in notoriety, bringing him right up on the radar of Akatsuki . I coincidentally, also happen to have information about the ninja guarding the Daimyo. All in all, a pretty good idea, don't you think? "

Rei blinked, taking a moment to process the information. Assassinate the Daimyo? Getting past the Samurai would be easy enough, but the ninja guarding the Daimyo? Rei glanced through the list. There were seven jounin, one of them a sensor. That would be difficult to get around, but he wasn't known as Kabuto's equal for no reason.

So Rei let his mind free, plotting and planning how to go around dealing with the obstacles, as a malicious grin stretched across his face. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow.

"You up for it?"

Rei glanced back and shrugged, feeling a bit mischievous. "You have my reputation. What do you think?" he replied in his usual monotone.

The two shared another grin.

Oh, the joys of bonding over killing royalty.

-Uzumaki-

Katsura Daisuki was a sensor. So getting her was the first priority for Rei. After that, the rest of the seven were ninjutsu or taijutsu specialists. One of them was even a med ninja, but no genjutsu specialists, so he could easily use his Red Lightning to avoid them.

Rei marvelled at the skill of Jiraiya's information network if it was able to get him information on the eight ninja guarding the Daimyo, as he slowly made his way through the passages of the palace, wary for any other guards.

The palace was comparatively small, needed only to host the Daimyo and his immediate family and the fifty something people serving under him, so the number of guards here was comparatively less (around twenty were samurai).

He rounded the bend, taking caution to not attract any of the samurai's attention, but flared his chakra just a little bit, making it rather obvious as to where he was. Intricate murals and beautiful paintings swept by him as he ran along.

He heard the low thud of samurai feet approaching, so he quickly jumped up, using chakra to stick and waited with bated breath as he hid in one of the corners or the ceiling. As a precaution, he used his genjutsu to become invisible.

The guards slowly plodded along, chatting softly between themselves as they walked through the hallway and rounded the corner he had just taken. When they were out of sight, the redhead took a cursory glance to make sure nothing was amiss. The halls stayed undisturbed, the trees outside swayed slightly with the wind, and a kunai slicing through the air, aimed right at him-

He let go of the illusion and dropped to the ground, feet first. The two guards? Rei nearly slapped himself for being idiotic. How could he have missed it? A henge!

The guards weren't chatting with each other. One was the sensor; the other was Renji Katara, the leader, most probably. Probably just after Rei had hid himself, they had reached the scene, and promptly hid themselves too, then Katsura and Renji must have walked past, trying to pin point his location. After rounding the corner, to mark his position or to force him to reveal his whereabouts, the kunai was thrown straight at him.

He landed, and started with a Lightning Strike to flash to point towards the right of Renji and Katsura, while he himself burst to their left, immediately forming a knife in his hand using the Raigan. Renji immediately followed by shooting a fireball straight at the illusion, as the illusion swiftly jumped back. Katsura on the other hand seemed conflicted.

Just as Rei was nearing them, the illusion flashed straight behind Katsura, an illusionary Raigan-dagger of his own in his hand. Katsura decided to trust her eyes rather than her senses, and pulled out a kunai to stop the blow the illusion tried to deal, a fatal mistake. With her back turned to him, Rei plunged the dagger straight into her neck, as the illusion simultaneously flashed to Rei's exact location.

Renji screamed her name, as she lifelessly dropped to the ground. Rei wasted no time preparing another Red Lightning illusion as he leapt away. The sensor was down, just as the other ninja reached the scene.

Moving onto part two of the plan, Rei left the illusion dodging the enraged ninja and leading them on a wild goose chase as he himself stalked his way quietly, but quickly towards the main goal. A few minutes of evading the attention of samurai guards later, He reached the Daimyo's room. The well built, black haired noble lay on his back, lost in dreams as a woman curled up next to him with an arm across his chest.

Both bodies were covered by a sheet. Rei frowned. It was approximately just an hour past midnight, relatively early. If the two were involved in a long bout of sexual activity (and Rei was pretty sure there were as evidenced by the garments on the floor and the stench in the room) and had recently gone to sleep, they might be more susceptible to waking up just then. Not that it would actually be detrimental to Rei, he could just easily kill them.

But for the plan to work, they needed to stay deep under.

Conversely, if they actually had time to fall deeper into sleep, it would considerably increase the margin for error Rei had. But as things were, Rei didn't need those margins.

Pulling out a pre-designed sealing tag silently, Rei placed it on the Daimyo's head with his right arm and channelled a bit of chakra into the seal. The paper slowly turned to dust and dispersed soon enough, leaving only a faint outline of transferred ink on the Daimyo's forehead. Seconds later the ink vanished too.

Soon followed by Rei himself disappearing from the room as he dashed back towards his illusion, eager to relieve it from its duties and make his own escape.

-Uzumaki-

Renji Katara stayed alert, scanning his surroundings for not only potential enemies, but also for information on Suna. His contract with the Wind Daimyo would be expiring in a few months, and for the debriefing he could also provide information on Suna to Tsuchikage-sama. Two birds with one stone.

They were currently in the Kazekage's office, the fifteen year old holding his end of the conversation remarkably well with the Daimyo. A small part of the Daimyo's protection detail (3 ninjas) stood behind the Daimyo, along with a scribe from the Daimyo's palace who was ready to note down anything of importance.

It was common knowledge that the Daimyo and fourth Kazekage had a huge enemity, and the Daimyo acted on his grudge by not providing Sunagakure enough fund through missions. For all missions, the Daimyo would contact other ninja villages, leaving Sunagakure to depend only on influential merchants and warlords for revenue.

This just escalated the distrust between the ninja village and Daimyo court to the point where the Daimyo needed a ninja protection detail while travelling to the ninja village in his own domain.

Ever since the Fourth Kazekage's child, Gaara of the Desert had become Kazekage, he had tried easing the tensions.

Renji thought that the Daimyo was an idiot who should have accepted the olive branch a long time ago, but if it hurt Suna, it benefitted Iwa, and who was he to complain.

Renji glanced back at the Kazekage, just to check if there was anything out of place. The Daimyo was ranting about honour and truth and what backstabbing bastards Suna ninja were, while Gaara politely listened, his head cocked a bit to the left, with a pensive frown on his head.

The Kazekage glanced at Renji, teal eyes meet Renji's green, and he stiffened. The Kazekage was young, but one would be a fool to think that he was powerless. One glance was enough to tell Renji that he was nothing but a speck before the 'Master of the Sands' as his Iwagakure bingo book stated. Renji felt a sort of paralyzing fear just by seeing those locked on him, something primal that told him to _runawayrunawayrunawayrun-_

And it was gone; the Kazekage's eyes were back on the Daimyo as he listened patiently to the buffoon. Renji released a breath that he did not realize he was holding in and glanced out of the window again, gazing out into the distance as he forced himself to calm down. He could still hear the frantic beating of his heart.

He continued staring outside until he felt that he was missing something. It wasn't very noticeable, but still important. He glanced back into the room and saw the Kazekage look much more alert, almost ready to jump out of his chair. It then hit Renji.

The Daimyo had stopped talking.

Did the Kazekage just poison the Daimyo? Renji had just enough time to pull out a kunai before a stream of sand shot out and pinned him against the wall, along with the other two guards. The Daimyo was now choking as he slid out of his chair and crumpled onto the floor. The Kazekage immediately at the Daimyo's side, checking for a heartbeat. The scribe was pale as he watched the proceedings.

The sand let down the guards as the Kazekage barked out orders "Go! Get a medic!" Urahara, a ninja from Kumo nodded to Renji and immediately left to get Kanzaki, their medic who was currently posted outside the tower.

The Kazekage turned towards Renji immediately. "Do you have any idea who would want to kill him?" Renji met his eyes and forced himself to look past the fear, and was surprised with what he saw. Genuine concern. The Kazekage actually had no idea why the Daimyo were now nearly dead on his floor. And killing the DAimyo right in the middle of his village did him no favours.

Renji swallowed. "Last week. An unidentified shinobi tried to attack the Daimyo. He wasn't successful, but he did manage to kill one of us."

The Kazekage stared at him intently for a few seconds before turning back to watch the Daimyo's body. And immediately jumped back, letting the Daimyo's head thump to the ground. Renji managed to get a glimpse of the Daimyo, a seal had appeared on his forehead, before he was pulled away by the Kazekage's sand as they flew out of the Kazekage's Tower, the Kazekage following close behind.

A second later, the entire building was engulfed in flames as a massive explosion destroyed it.

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Personally, I'm not really satisfied with the action scenes (They're horrible. Kill me please) but action was never my strong suit. 

Hope y'all enjoyed!

Tell me what y'all think.

Peace Out.

-ProdigyPsycho 


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